WESTBROOK–The long-awaited dedication of the Westbrook Middle School is finally happening Saturday, three months after it was originally scheduled.

Construction delays at the school postponed the dedication planned for December. The ceremony’s chief organizer, Christine Latini, is just hoping that an unforeseen storm won’t push it back again.

“We’d have to get a pretty big nor’easter,” she said. “I’ve been checking weather on the Internet three times a day. Sunny and 50, that’s what it says.”

Latini said she’s expecting about 400 people to attend the event Saturday. It kicks off with a slide show of the construction process at 11:30 a.m. in the Westbrook Performing Arts Center, which was built along with the school.

At noon, John O’Hara and Rene Daniel, co-chairmen of the school’s building committee, will take the stage as the masters of ceremony. Mayor Colleen Hilton, Superintendent Reza Namin and sixth-grade teacher Colette Gagnon will take turns talking about the school.

Following their remarks, local officials will cut a large, blue ribbon tied to the pillars outside the main entrance. Guests can head from there to the cafeteria for refreshments prepared by culinary arts students at the Westbrook Regional Vocational Center or to the gymnasium for tours led by middle-school teachers.

“I think it’s going to be a great celebration,” Latini said.

For Westbrook residents who can’t attend, the ceremony will be broadcast live on the city’s public access channels – something Latini said wouldn’t have been possible if it were held in December because the school’s video system had not been set up.

“It’s totally worth the wait,” she said.

The $34 million, 135,000-square-foot building was approved by voters in 2007. A dedication was originally planned for Dec. 19, and the school was supposed to open for students on Jan. 4 right after winter vacation.

However, city inspectors, who were expected to issue a certificate of occupancy on Dec. 15, said more work would need to be done before they considered the building safe.

At a hastily called meeting called less than a week before the scheduled dedication, the middle school steering committee voted to postpone the ceremony to an undetermined date.

After months of promoting the event, Latini quickly had to get the word out that it wasn’t happening. She made phone calls, sent e-mails and had the messages changed on electronic boards placed around the city.

It wasn’t until after the students moved into the school that the dedication committee reconvened to talk about when to hold the ceremony.

“Pretty much everything was done, we just needed to regroup, get everyone back together and pick a date,” Latini said.

Principal Brian Mazjanis said he doesn’t think the delay will make the dedication any less special.

“Just because the kids are in here, for me, it doesn’t take away from it at all,” he said.

Meanwhile, at school, Mazjanis said, he and his staff are getting used to all the new equipment, but everything’s running smoothly.

“The kids are really loving the building,” he said.

According to Mazjanis, there are plenty of people who haven’t been through the school yet and who are looking forward to seeing it for the first time at the dedication.

While the event will officially welcome the school as part of the community, for the volunteers who oversaw its construction, it marks the end of years of work.

“I have given hundreds of hours of my time to this project as have many others,” said O’Hara. “It will be a bittersweet party.”

The celebration should also draw some people who are no longer working in Westbrook, but had a lot to with getting the project off the ground, including former Superintendent Stan Sawyer.

“I can’t tell you the number of times we went to Augusta,” Sawyer said about the work it took to secure state funding for the project.

Though Sawyer said he’s already peeked his head into the school since its completion, he’s still looking forward to the event.

“It’s a really great culmination of a big community effort,” he said.

With its high ceiling and abundant natural light, the library at the new Westbrook Middle School provides a comfortable environment for relaxing or reading. The dedication ceremony for the school is Saturday.
Staff photo by Brandon McKenney